Centrally controlling communication at a venue

ABSTRACT

One example may include a method that includes receiving, at a presentation server, an audio data signal from a mobile device located in a presentation space, identifying a mobile device identification characteristic of the mobile device based on the received audio data signal, determining a mobile device location via a location determination procedure, and playing the audio signal via a loudspeaker.

TECHNICAL FIELD

This application relates to centrally controlling communications at avenue and more specifically to using mobile devices as individualmicrophones for communication when centrally controlling communicationat a venue.

BACKGROUND

Conventional moderated questions of audience participants are askedutilizing a roving microphone and a roving microphone handler. In largeaudiences this is a daunting and difficult task. This approach tomoderating questions, in large part, ignores the technological advancesof recent years.

Other moderated audience interactions that utilize some technicaladvances to interact with the moderator lack the ability to distinguishpresenter audio from the audience audio, resulting in a reverb ormuddled audio.

Additionally, conventional moderated audience interactions lack theability to pre-que the audience questions by recording and transcribingthem, so that the most cogent question is asked at the most appropriatetime.

Also, conventional moderated audience interactions lack the ability tomicro-locate the audience participant within a larger environment and donot present the question(s) using audio/visuals or present thepresentation in a virtual reality format.

Moreover, techniques to centrally control audience participation byharnessing mobile device capabilities and distributing workloadsassociated with computation intensive tasks may provide additionalcapabilities to audience participants and presenters.

SUMMARY

In a first example embodiment a method for centrally controllingcommunication at a venue with a plurality of participants may provideone or more of receiving via a plurality of mobile devices a respectiveplurality of audio signals from at least two of the plurality ofparticipants by a communications bridge, mixing audio signals of theplurality of audio signals with a watermark audio signal and moderatinga transmission of the mixed audio signals to the plurality ofparticipants at the venue.

In another example method for centrally controlling communication at avenue with a plurality of participants, a method may provide one or moreof receiving via a plurality of mobile devices a plurality of acousticmodem data signals and a plurality of audio signals from at least two ofthe plurality of participants by a communications bridge, mixing audiosignals of the plurality of audio signals with a watermark audio signaland moderating a transmission of at least one of the plurality ofacoustic modem data signals and the mixed audio signals to the pluralityof participants at the venue.

In yet another example method for centrally controlling communication ata venue with a plurality of participants, a method may provide one ormore of receiving via a plurality of mobile devices a respectiveplurality of audio signals from at least two of the plurality ofparticipants by a communications bridge, recording the plurality ofaudio signals, transcribing the recorded plurality of audio signals,mixing audio signals of the plurality of audio signals with a watermarkaudio signal, selecting at least one of the recorded plurality of audiosignals and moderating a transmission of at least one of the selectedplurality of audio signals to the plurality of participants at thevenue.

In yet another example method of operation for centrally controllingcommunication at a venue with a plurality of participants, the methodmay include one or more of receiving via a plurality of mobile devices arespective plurality of audio signals and a respective plurality ofacoustic modem data signals from at least two of the plurality ofparticipants by a communications bridge, recording the plurality ofaudio signals, transcribing the recorded plurality of audio signals,mixing audio signals of the plurality of audio signals with a watermarkaudio signal, selecting at least one of the recorded plurality of audiosignals and moderating a transmission of at least one of the pluralityof acoustic modem data signals and of at least one of the selectedplurality of audio signals to the plurality of participants at thevenue.

In still yet another example method for centrally controllingcommunication at a venue with a plurality of participants, the methodmay include one or more of receiving via a plurality of mobile devices arespective plurality of audio visual signals from at least two of theplurality of participants by a communications bridge, mixing audiovisuals signals of the plurality of audio visual signals with awatermark audio signal and moderating a transmission of the mixed audiovisual signals to the plurality of participants at the venue.

In still yet a further example method for centrally controllingcommunication at a venue with a plurality of participants, the methodmay include one or more of receiving via a plurality of mobile devices aplurality of acoustic modem data signals and a plurality of audio visualsignals from at least two of the plurality of participants by acommunications bridge, mixing audio signals of the plurality of audiovisual signals with a watermark audio signal and moderating atransmission of at least one of the plurality of acoustic modem datasignals and the mixed audio signals to the plurality of participants atthe venue.

In still yet another example method for centrally controllingcommunication at a venue with a plurality of participants, the methodmay include one or more of receiving via a plurality of mobile devices arespective plurality of audio signals and a respective plurality oflocation signals from at least two of the plurality of participants by acommunications bridge, mixing audio signals of the plurality of audiosignals with a watermark audio signal, capturing at least one photographof at least one participant of the plurality of participants with therespective location signal and moderating a transmission of the mixedaudio signals and the captured at least one photograph to the pluralityof participants at the venue.

In still yet another example method for centrally controllingcommunication at a venue with a plurality of participants, the methodmay include one or more of receiving via a plurality of mobile devices aplurality of respective data signals, a plurality respective of audiosignals and a respective plurality of location signals from at least twoof the plurality of participants by a communications bridge, mixingaudio signals of the plurality of audio signals with a watermark audiosignal and capturing at least one photograph of at least one participantof the plurality of participants with the respective location signal andmoderating a transmission of at least one of the plurality of acousticmodem data signals, the mixed audio signals and the captured at leastone photograph to the plurality of participants at the venue.

In yet a further example method for centrally controlling communicationat a venue with a plurality of participants, the method may include oneor more of receiving via a plurality of mobile devices a respectiveplurality of audio visual signals from at least two of the plurality ofparticipants by a communications bridge, mixing audio visual signals ofthe plurality of audio visual signals with a watermark audio signal,capturing at least one photograph of at least one participant of theplurality of participants with the respective mobile device of theplurality of mobile devices and moderating a transmission of the mixedaudio visual signals and the captured at least one photograph to theplurality of participants at the venue.

In a further example method for centrally controlling communication at avenue with a plurality of participants, the method may include one ormore of receiving via a plurality of mobile devices a plurality of datasignals and a plurality of audio visual signals from at least two of theplurality of participants by a communications bridge, mixing audiovisual signals of the plurality audio visual signals with a watermarkaudio signal and moderating a transmission of at least one of theplurality of data signals and the mixed audio visual signals to theplurality of participants at the venue.

In yet still a further example method for centrally controllingcommunication at a venue with a plurality of participants, the methodmay include one or more of receiving via a plurality of mobile devices arespective plurality of audio signals from at least two of the pluralityof participants by a communications bridge, mixing audio signals of theplurality of audio signals with a watermark audio signal and moderatinga transmission of the mixed audio signals via virtual reality to theplurality of participants at the venue.

In yet another example method for centrally controlling communication ata venue with a plurality of participants, the method may include one ormore of receiving via a plurality of mobile devices a plurality of datasignals and a plurality of audio signals from at least two of theplurality of participants by a communications bridge, mixing audiosignals of the plurality of audio signals with a watermark audio signaland moderating a transmission of at least one of the plurality of datasignals and the mixed audio signals via virtual reality to the pluralityof participants at the venue.

In yet another example method for centrally controlling communication ata venue with a plurality of participants, the method may include one ormore of receiving via a plurality of participant mobile devices arespective plurality of audio signals from at least two of the pluralityof participants by a communications bridge, mixing audio signals by therespective participant mobile device of the plurality of audio signalswith a watermark audio signal, wherein the watermark audio signalincludes an embedded data, displaying the embedded data to a presenterand moderating a transmission of the audio signals to the plurality ofparticipants at the venue.

In yet still another example method for centrally controllingcommunication at a venue with a plurality of participants, the methodmay include one or more of receiving via a plurality of participantmobile devices a respective plurality of audio signals from at least twoof the plurality of participants by a communications bridge, mixingaudio signals by the communication bridge of the plurality of audiosignals with a watermark audio signal, and the watermark audio signalincludes an embedded data, displaying the embedded data to the pluralityof participants at the venue via the plurality of participant mobiledevices and moderating a transmission of the audio signals to theplurality of participants at the venue.

Still yet further, another example embodiment may include a method thatincludes one or more of receiving, at a server, a data set from one ormore mobile devices located in a presentation space, combining thereceived data set with additional data to create a combined data set,creating a presentation signal based on the combined data set,subtracting a portion of one or more of the data set and the additionaldata set from the combined data set to create a modified presentationsignal, forwarding the modified presentation signal to one or more of adisplay and a loudspeaker located in the presentation space, and playingthe modified presentation signal via one or more of the loudspeaker andthe display device.

Still yet another example embodiment may include an apparatus thatincludes a receiver configured to receive a data set from one or moremobile devices located in a presentation space, a processor configuredto combine the received data set with additional data to create acombined data set, create a presentation signal based on the combineddata set, subtract a portion of one or more of the data set and theadditional data set from the combined data set to create a modifiedpresentation signal, forward the modified presentation signal to one ormore of a display and a loudspeaker located in the presentation space,and play the modified presentation signal via one or more of theloudspeaker and the display device.

Still yet another example embodiment may include a non-transitorycomputer readable storage medium configured to store instructions thatwhen executed cause a processor to perform receiving, at a server, adata set from one or more mobile devices located in a presentationspace, combining the received data set with additional data to create acombined data set, creating a presentation signal based on the combineddata set, subtracting a portion of one or more of the data set and theadditional data set from the combined data set to create a modifiedpresentation signal, forwarding the modified presentation signal to oneor more of a display and a loudspeaker located in the presentationspace, and playing the modified presentation signal via one or more ofthe loudspeaker and the display device.

Still yet another example embodiment may include a method that includesreceiving, at a presentation server, an audio data signal from a mobiledevice located in a presentation space, identifying a mobile deviceidentification characteristic of the mobile device based on the receivedaudio data signal, determining a mobile device location via a locationdetermination procedure, and playing the audio signal via a loudspeaker.

Still yet another example embodiment may include an apparatus thatincludes a receiver configured to receive, at a presentation server, anaudio data signal from a mobile device located in a presentation space,and a processor configured to identify a mobile device identificationcharacteristic of the mobile device based on the received audio datasignal, determine a mobile device location via a location determinationprocedure, and play the audio signal via a loudspeaker.

Still yet another example embodiment may include a non-transitorycomputer readable storage medium configured to store instructions thatwhen executed cause a processor to perform receiving, at a presentationserver, an audio data signal from a mobile device located in apresentation space, identifying a mobile device identificationcharacteristic of the mobile device based on the received audio datasignal, determining a mobile device location via a locationdetermination procedure, and playing the audio signal via a loudspeaker.

Still yet another example embodiment may include a method that includesone or more of initiating an audio recording to capture audio data,comparing the audio data received from a microphone of a mobile deviceto an audio data range, determining whether the audio data is above anoptimal level based on a result of the comparison, and queuing the audiodata in an audio data queue when the audio data is above the optimallevel.

Another example embodiment may include an apparatus that includes aprocessor configured to initiate an audio recording to capture audiodata, compare the audio data received from a microphone of a mobiledevice to an audio data range, determine whether the audio data is abovean optimal level based on a result of the comparison, and queue theaudio data in an audio data queue when the audio data is above theoptimal level.

Still yet another example embodiment may include a non-transitorycomputer readable storage medium configured to store instructions thatwhen executed cause a processor to perform one or more of initiating anaudio recording to capture audio data, comparing the audio data receivedfrom a microphone of a mobile device to an audio data range, determiningwhether the audio data is above an optimal level based on a result ofthe comparison, and queuing the audio data in an audio data queue whenthe audio data is above the optimal level.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The accompanying figures, where like reference numerals refer toidentical or functionally similar elements throughout the separateviews, together with the detailed description below, are incorporated inand form part of the specification, and serve to further illustrateembodiments of concepts that include the claimed invention, and explainvarious principles of those embodiments.

FIG. 1 depicts an overall system diagram, in accordance with someembodiments.

FIG. 2 depicts a first system diagram in which the communication bridgeis connected through a firewall to a registration server, in accordancewith some embodiments.

FIG. 3 depicts a second system diagram in which a mobile device isconnected through a firewall to a registration server, in accordancewith some embodiments.

FIG. 4 depicts a third system diagram in which a presenter mobiledevice, a participant mobile device and communication bridge areconnected, in accordance with some embodiments.

FIG. 5 depicts a fourth system diagram in which the communication bridgeis connected to a multimedia reinforcement speaker system to output amixed audio signal, in accordance with some embodiments.

FIG. 6 depicts a user smartphone interface of an example depictingcreating an event, in accordance with some embodiments.

FIG. 7 depicts a second set of screenshots depicting a communicationbridge connection status in which the components are unlinked andlinked.

FIG. 8 depicts a third set of screenshots depicting sharing audiocomments, text comments and polling, in accordance with someembodiments.

FIG. 9 depicts an example method for centrally controlling communicationat a venue, in accordance with some embodiments.

FIG. 10 depicts another example method for centrally controllingcommunication at a venue, in accordance with some embodiments.

FIG. 11 depicts another example method for centrally controllingcommunication at a venue, in accordance with some embodiments.

FIG. 12 depicts another example method for centrally controllingcommunication at a venue, in accordance with some embodiments.

FIG. 13 depicts another example method for centrally controllingcommunication at a venue, in accordance with some embodiments.

FIG. 14 depicts another example method for centrally controllingcommunication at a venue, in accordance with some embodiments.

FIG. 15 depicts another example method for centrally controllingcommunication at a venue, in accordance with some embodiments.

FIG. 16 depicts another example method for centrally controllingcommunication at a venue, in accordance with some embodiments.

FIG. 17 depicts another example method for centrally controllingcommunication at a venue, in accordance with some embodiments.

FIG. 18 depicts another example method for centrally controllingcommunication at a venue, in accordance with some embodiments.

FIG. 19 depicts another example method for centrally controllingcommunication at a venue, in accordance with some embodiments.

FIG. 20 depicts another example method for centrally controllingcommunication at a venue, in accordance with some embodiments.

FIG. 21 depicts another example method for centrally controllingcommunication at a venue, in accordance with some embodiments.

FIG. 22 depicts another example method for centrally controllingcommunication at a venue, in accordance with some embodiments.

FIG. 23 depicts a system for centrally controlling communication at avenue, in accordance with some embodiments.

FIG. 24 depicts a system for centrally controlling communication at avenue, in accordance with some embodiments.

FIG. 25 illustrates a system for receiving and processing audiencemember audio and related data for communication at a venue, inaccordance with some embodiments.

FIG. 26 illustrates a system signaling diagram for receiving andprocessing audience member audio and related data for communication at avenue, in accordance with some embodiments.

FIG. 27 illustrates another system signaling diagram for receiving andprocessing audience member audio and related data for communication at avenue, in accordance with some embodiments.

FIG. 28 illustrates another system signaling diagram for receiving andprocessing audience member audio and related data for communication at avenue, in accordance with some embodiments.

FIG. 29 illustrates an example method of receiving and processingparticipation data from audience member devices, in accordance with someembodiments.

FIG. 30 illustrates another example method of receiving and processingparticipation data from audience member devices, in accordance with someembodiments.

FIG. 31 illustrates another example method of receiving and processingparticipation data from audience member devices, in accordance with someembodiments.

FIG. 32 illustrates an example computer system for supporting thereceiving and processing of participation data from audience memberdevices, in accordance with some embodiments.

Skilled artisans will appreciate that elements in the figures areillustrated for simplicity and clarity and have not necessarily beendrawn to scale. For example, the dimensions of some of the elements inthe figures may be exaggerated relative to other elements to help toimprove understanding of embodiments of the present invention.

The apparatus and method components have been represented whereappropriate by conventional symbols in the drawings, showing only thosespecific details that are pertinent to understanding the embodiments ofthe present invention so as not to obscure the disclosure with detailsthat will be readily apparent to those of ordinary skill in the arthaving the benefit of the description herein.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The illustrative embodiments described in the detailed description,drawings, and claims are not meant to be limiting. Other embodiments maybe utilized, and other changes may be made, without departing from thescope of the subject matter presented herein. It will be readilyunderstood that the aspects of the present disclosure, as generallydescribed herein, and illustrated in the Figures, can be arranged,substituted, combined, separated, and designed in a wide variety ofdifference configurations, all of which are explicitly contemplatedherein. Further, in the foregoing description, numerous details are setforth to further describe and explain one or more embodiments. Thesedetails include system configurations, block module diagrams, flowcharts(including transaction diagrams), and accompanying written description.While these details are helpful to explain one or more embodiments ofthe disclosure, those skilled in the art will understand that thesespecific details are not required in order to practice the embodiments.

As will be appreciated by one skilled in the art, aspects of the presentdisclosure may be embodied as an apparatus that incorporates somesoftware components. Accordingly, some embodiments of the presentdisclosure, or portions thereof, may combine one or more hardwarecomponents such as microprocessors, microcontrollers, or digitalsequential logic, etc., such as a processor(s) with one or more softwarecomponents (e.g., program code, firmware, resident software, micro-code,etc.) stored in a tangible computer-readable memory device such as atangible computer memory device, that in combination, form aspecifically configured apparatus that performs the functions asdescribed herein. These combinations that form specially-programmeddevices may be generally referred to herein as “modules”. The softwarecomponent portions of the modules may be written in any computerlanguage and may be a portion of a monolithic code base, or may bedeveloped in more discrete code portions such as is typical inobject-oriented computer languages. In addition, the modules may bedistributed across a plurality of computer platforms, servers,terminals, mobile devices and the like. A given module may even beimplemented such that the described functions are performed by separateprocessors and/or computing hardware platforms.

An example method according to example embodiments may provide mixing ofparticipant mobile device, or communication bridge content, generated orstored content, such as background music, presentation media, and thelike which is intended for delivery to a multimedia reinforcementsystem.

In one example, low-level audible, but not loud attention-getting noisemasking signals, are mixed with the participant audio for the purpose ofobscuring interfering sounds from adjacent spaces during times of activeand inactive participant audio shared via their mobile devices.

An inaudible (i.e., human perceived) audio-signal ‘watermark’ signal maybe included with certain audio and other data to enable delivery ofinformation from or about the participant mobile device and its user,the surrounding environment, and the like, without using out-of-bandtransmission methods.

In this disclosure an audio generator is utilized to create an audio‘watermark’ that may be mixed with the audio signal. The audio generatormay be added to a web-based audio visual codec.

The mixing of audio sounds may be performed in the participant mobiledevices, communication bridge and/or multimedia reinforcement system.The communication bridge may act as a call termination device.

Participant audio feeds may be mixed from a plurality of localparticipant mobile devices, especially where a multi-duplex conversationis desired involving more than one user/device, or when a userexperience is desired that does not require the user to press a buttonto be heard such as when a manual or automatic mixing operation is beingperformed.

The mixing of the participant audio may be performed at the participantmobile device or via a communication bridge in communication with themobile device. The generated audio intended for delivery to themultimedia reinforcement system may be stored for later processing.

In another example, one or more presenter audio feeds are mixed with theparticipant audio from the participant mobile device. This mix of audiomay be utilized for recording, transcription and/or conferencing audiosent to a remote participant and the like.

In another example, one or more remote participant audio feeds are mixedwith local participants. A request to speak chime sound may be generatedin the participant mobile device or the communication bridge mixed withthe participant audio.

In yet another example, acquisition by the participant mobile device ofvisual information for processing on the participant mobile device orcommunication bridge may assist in audio intelligibility enhancement.

Processing algorithms that benefit from a reference signal may be mixedwith the participant audio to enhance the audio, examples of this areacoustic echo cancellation and feedback suppression.

A mix may be used for reverberation, to modify the participant audio soas to more clearly delineate the difference between participants orenhance the environmental experience for the audience.

Some participant mobile devices may have multiple microphone elements,by mixing the raw participant audio received from one microphone, usingthe additional audio acquired by the additional microphones, noisecancellation may be performed to enhance the participant's questionasking experience while being located in a large room with various noisesources.

In another example the system may include a communication bridge, suchas a centrally located device that has the capability to identifylocations of the participant mobile devices. The location generationoperation permits an array of audio outputs for the larger-scalemultimedia reinforcement system with the participant mobile device audiofeeds sourced closest to the multimedia reinforcement loudspeaker beingsubtracted from the mix of audio. The location discovery process may beperformed via audio signal acquisition and mixing from the participantmobile devices or other methods such as RF triangulation, GPS, beaconsignal measurements among other types of location discovery.

Another example method may include recording and queuing audio clipssuch as questions from participants, and subtracting the presenter audioand/or other background noise that might have been inadvertentlycaptured by the participant mobile device microphone. This informationcan then be used to present a question by one user to the entireaudience without disruptive audio feeds, such as the speaker's audio,crowd noise, and other unwanted noises.

In another example, text messages may be read aloud by a text-to-speechprocessing engine, utilizing the participant mobile device and or thecommunication bridge to receive, and insert the text-based questions orcomments into a live feed shared by the presenter at a particular time.

In another example method of operation, other media may be shared, suchas by a process that includes acquiring, sending, processing, anddisplaying participant-annotated photos of the event and/or presentationto enhance the interaction between a participant and a presenter,moderator, audience members and the like.

The system server may use event content slides, abstracts, multimedia,and the like, to provide input to inform and train a neural networkfunction to provide optimal speech-to-text accuracy. The system mayutilize multimedia watermarking to transparently deliver closedcaptioning or other information.

Another example method may include an augmented reality system in whichwatching or listening to the event permits rendering of the informationconveyed by the ‘watermark’ on another device. This may permit foruncoordinated cooperation such as registration, electronic connectionsand the like between the transmitting and receiving systems in order torender the desired content.

FIG. 1 depicts an overall system diagram 100 including a communicationsbridge 110, which is comprised of at least a processor 112 coupled to amemory 114 that includes a non-transitory computer readable storagemedium. The processor 112 may be coupled to a WiFi interface 118, anetwork interface 116 and an audio interface 120. The network interface116 is coupled to a registration server 128. In one embodiment thecoupling is by direct line connection by a corporate LAN, in otherembodiments the connection may be by a WLAN or via cellularcommunication. The audio interface 120 is coupled to a multimediareinforcement system 122. A participant mobile device 124 is wireles slycoupled to the WiFi interface, or may be coupled by a cellularconnection. The presenter mobile device 126 is coupled to the WiFiinterface 118 or may be coupled by direct line connection. Thecommunications bridge may also comprise a watermark differentiator 2312(see FIG. 23) for extracting information embedded in a participant audiotransmitted to the communications bridge 110 and a watermark integrator2312 for integrating data into the outgoing audio signal.

The operations of a method or algorithm described in connection with theembodiments disclosed herein may be embodied directly in hardware, in acomputer program executed by a processor, or in a combination of thetwo. A computer program may be embodied on a computer readable medium,such as a storage medium. For example, a computer program may reside inrandom access memory (“RAM”), flash memory, read-only memory (“ROM”),erasable programmable read-only memory (“EPROM”), electrically erasableprogrammable read-only memory (“EEPROM”), registers, hard disk, aremovable disk, a compact disk read-only memory (“CD-ROM”), or any otherform of storage medium known in the art. An exemplary storage medium maybe coupled to the processor such that the processor may read informationfrom, and write information to, the storage medium.

In the alternative, the storage medium may be integral to the processor.The processor and the storage medium may reside in an applicationspecific integrated circuit (“ASIC”), or, the processor and the storagemedium may reside as discrete components.

The application may be coded in software in a computer languageunderstood by the processor, and stored in a computer readable medium,such as, the memory. The computer readable medium may be anon-transitory computer readable medium that includes tangible hardwarecomponents in addition to software stored in memory. Furthermore, asoftware module may be another discrete entity that is part of thenetwork entity, and which contains software instructions that may beexecuted by the processor.

FIG. 2 depicts a second example system diagram 200 in which thecommunication bridge 110 (depicted as a audio device) is connected via acorporate LAN to a router 214 and a firewall 212 to the Internet 210 andin communication with a registration server 128. In this example, onceconnected to the network and an internal IP address is obtained, thecommunication bridge registers its session number and internal IPaddress to the registration server.

As may be observed from the example of FIG. 2, the communications bridge110 communicates via a corporate LAN through a router 214 and firewall212 to the registration server 128. The registration server 128 has amemory and processor and the communications bridge 110 has a memory 114and processor 112.

FIG. 3 depicts another example system diagram 300 in which the mobiledevice 124 is connected through a corporate WLAN 310, a router 214 and afirewall 212 to a registration server 128 via the Internet 210. In thisexample, by entering the session ID, the audience members, participantsand presenters query the registration server 128 to find the internal IPaddress of the communication bridge 110. In this figure the participantmobile device 124 or presenter mobile device (different or the same) areregistered via a wireless LAN 310 and router 214, through the firewall212 to the registration server 128. By utilizing a WLAN 310, the devices124 within the venue may be registered and interact with thecommunications bridge 110.

FIG. 4 depicts another example system diagram 400 in which a presentermobile device 126, a participant mobile device 124 and communicationbridge 110 are connected through the corporate WLAN 310 and the router214. Using the internal IP address retrieved from the registrationserver (see FIGS. 1-128), the participant mobile device(s) 124 connectsto the communications bridge 110, and the presenter mobile device 126connects to the communication bridge 110 on a different port. Thecommunication bridge 110 acts as a proxy server permitting communicationbetween the devices 124 and 126. In this figure, the participant mobiledevice 124 and the presenter mobile device 126 communicate via the WLAN310 to the communications bridge 110.

FIG. 5 depicts another system diagram 500 in which the communicationbridge 110 is connected to a multimedia reinforcement speaker system 122to output a mixed audio signal. For example, once a participant audiencemember has been selected to speak, the audience member may speak and theaudio signals are captured by the participant's mobile device 124 andconverted to audio packets, which are sent from the participant mobiledevice 124 to the communication bridge 110. These audio packets are thenconverted and sent to the communication bridge audio output (see FIGS.1-120). In this figure, the output from the communications bridge 110 iscommunicated to the audience of the venue through the multimediareinforcement system 122. The audience can then hear the participant'squestion being announced as a filtered audio signal which removed thebackground noises of other members, the speaker, and any otherundesirable sounds via a digital filtering procedure.

FIG. 6 depicts an example screenshot 600 depicting a user interface usedto create an event via the system controller. In this example, theorganizer is prompted to decide upon a series of parameters, such aswhether the session will be audio only 610 and whether a passcode isneeded 612 to interact with the presenters. The system allows theselection of analytics 614 and whether participant audio will beincluded in the event 616 as well as the presentation of presenterimages 618 and audience size. The event may be created 620 and theoption to logout 622 may be selected.

FIG. 7 depicts another screenshot of a user interface 700 illustrating acommunication bridge connection status in which the components areunlinked 710 or linked 712, and which permit the organizer of the eventto connect the communications bridge (FIGS. 1-110) for the event. Thecommunications bridge sends feedback via the WLAN indicating a status ofthe setup. The configuration also permits the organizer to selectwhether the event and comments are recorded 714, whether the commentsare converted from speech to text 716 and the volume of the system 718.The organizer is additionally permitted to disconnect the communicationsbridge.

FIG. 8 depicts another example set of screenshots 800 of a user mobiledevice depicting a selection to speak to the audience 810, send comments812 to be communicated to the audience, and answering polling questions814. The participants are each permitted to select whether tocommunicate by way of voice comments and text comments via theirrespective mobile devices. The comments text/audio/media may be receivedand collected via the system server of the registration server and/orcommunications bridge 100. The presenter may be able to access thecomments, play the comments to the audience via the loudspeaker, andrespond to the comments when appropriate.

FIG. 9 depicts an example method or non-transitory computer readablestorage medium configured to store instructions for execution by aprocessor for centrally controlling communication 900 at a venue with aplurality of participants. The example method may include one or more ofreceiving 910 via a plurality of mobile devices a respective pluralityof audio signals from at least two of the plurality of participants by acommunications bridge, mixing 912 audio signals of the plurality ofaudio signals with a watermark audio signal and moderating 914 atransmission of the mixed audio signals to the plurality of participantsat the venue. The moderated transmission is communicated to theparticipants and the audience by way of a multimedia reinforcementspeaker system (see FIGS. 1-122).

The method provides any user with a mobile device that can wirelesslyconnect within a venue server to use their mobile devices to profferquestions in the form of vocalized questions and/or text questions whichwill be received and answered by a moderator/speaker. The server mayreceive the vocal questions and mix a ‘watermark’ audio signal with thequestion before broadcasting the question to the audience. The mixedquestion data and watermark audio signals that the user phone(s) receivefrom the earlier submitted questions are automatically subtracted fromthe audio stream so that only the question data is sent without thebackground multimedia reinforcement speaker audio stream, or otherbackground noise. In this way, the audio signals may be modified todifferentiate an audience comment from a presenter comment. By theaddition of the watermark audio signal, a clean signal may be extractedby the system. The audio signals from the participants may be amulti-duplex communication.

The example method may also provide removing previously mixed audiosignals from the respective plurality of audio signals, and where thewatermark audio signal further includes a noise cancellation signal. Themethod of mixing audio signals may be performed by the mobile device orby the communications bridge. The audio signals and the watermark audiosignal are communicated in-band to the communications bridge.

Another example method may include locating the mobile devices within afixed area to subtract moderated transmissions from an adjacentamplified sound, removing certain mixed audio signals from the receivedplurality of audio signals and removing audio signals from adjacentmultimedia reinforcement speakers from the received plurality of audiosignals. Locating the participant mobile device may be performed bymatching the direction indicated by a beamforming antenna with thespoken comments via GPS, RF triangulation, beacons, internal locationdetection based on accelerometers and gyros, etc. The audiotransmissions to the audience may be by a multimedia reinforcementsystem which acts in part as an amplified audio system.

FIG. 10 depicts an example method or non-transitory computer readablestorage medium configured to store instructions for execution by aprocessor for centrally controlling communication 1000 at a venue with aplurality of participants. The method may include receiving 1010 via aplurality of mobile devices a plurality of acoustic modem data signalsand a plurality of audio signals from at least two of the plurality ofparticipants by a communications bridge, mixing 1012 at least one of theaudio signals of the plurality of audio signals with a watermark audiosignal and moderating 1014 a transmission of at least one of theplurality of acoustic modem data signals and the mixed audio signals tothe plurality of participants at the venue. The moderated transmissionis communicated to the participants and the audience by way of amultimedia reinforcement speaker system (see FIGS. 1-122).

The method of FIG. 10 is similar to that of FIG. 9 with the inclusion ofcommunicating data by acoustic modem data signals. The method mayfurther include receiving text messages via the plurality of acousticmodem data signals and converting the received text message to speechfor moderated transmission.

FIG. 11 depicts a method or non-transitory computer readable storagemedium configured to store instructions for execution by a processor forcentrally controlling communication 1100 at a venue with a plurality ofparticipants, the method may include receiving 1110 via a plurality ofmobile devices a respective plurality of audio signals from at least twoof the plurality of participants by a communications bridge, recording1112 the plurality of audio signals, transcribing 1114 the recordedplurality of audio signals, mixing audio signals 1116 of the pluralityof audio signals with a watermark audio signal, selecting 1118 at leastone of the recorded plurality of audio signals and moderating 1120 atransmission of at least one of the selected plurality of audio signalsto the plurality of participants at the venue. The moderatedtransmission is communicated to the participants and the audience by wayof a multimedia reinforcement speaker system (see FIGS. 1-122).

The method of FIG. 11 may also include recording the audio signalquestion(s), transcribing them for the moderator to select from andafter the moderator has selected the question, broadcasting thequestion. In this way, received questions may be answered at the mostappropriate times in the presentation, the most interesting or probingquestions asked may be selected from a list of questions which providesthe presenter(s) a few moments to think about an answer before thequestion is broadcast. Additionally, the mixed question and watermarkaudio signals the mobile devices receive from earlier questions areautomatically subtracted from the audio stream so that only the questionwithout the background multimedia reinforcement speaker audio stream issent.

FIG. 12 depicts a method or non-transitory computer readable storagemedium configured to store instructions for execution by a processor forcentrally controlling communication 1200 at a venue with a plurality ofparticipants. The method may include receiving 1210 via a plurality ofmobile devices a respective plurality of audio signals and a respectiveplurality of acoustic modem data signals from at least two of theplurality of participants by a communications bridge, recording 1212 theplurality of audio signals, transcribing 1214 the recorded plurality ofaudio signals, mixing 1216 audio signals of the plurality of audiosignals with a watermark audio signal, selecting 1218 at least one ofthe recorded plurality of audio signals and moderating 1220 atransmission of at least one of the plurality of acoustic modem datasignals and of at least one of the selected plurality of audio signalsto the plurality of participants at the venue. The moderatedtransmission is communicated to the participants and the audience by wayof a multimedia reinforcement speaker system (see FIGS. 1-122).

The method of FIG. 12 is similar to that of FIG. 11 with the inclusionof communicating data by acoustic modem data signals. The method mayfurther include receiving text messages via the plurality of acousticmodem data signals and converting the received text message to speechfor moderated transmission.

FIG. 13 depicts a method or non-transitory computer readable storagemedium configured to store instructions for execution by a processor forcentrally controlling communication 1300 at a venue with a plurality ofparticipants. The method may include receiving 1310 via a plurality ofmobile devices a respective plurality of audio visual signals from atleast two of the plurality of participants by a communications bridge,mixing 1312 the audio visuals signals of the plurality of audio visualsignals with a watermark audio signal and moderating 1314 a transmissionof the mixed audio visual signals to the plurality of participants atthe venue. The moderated transmission is communicated to theparticipants and the audience by way of a multimedia reinforcementspeaker system (see FIGS. 1-122).

The method of FIG. 13 is similar to the method of FIG. 9 with theaddition of audio visual signals being added to the previous audioquestions submitted. The method provides any user with a mobile devicethat can wirelessly connect within a venue to use their mobile devicesto proffer questions in the form of vocal questions or text questions toa moderator. The method includes receiving the vocal questions andmixing a watermark audio signal with the question before broadcastingthe question to the audience. The mixed question and watermark audiosignals the phone receives from earlier submitted questions areautomatically subtracted from the audio stream so that only the questionwithout the background multimedia reinforcement speaker audio stream issent. In this way, the audio signals may be modified to differentiate anaudience comment from a presenter comment. By the addition of thewatermark audio signal, a clean signal may be extracted by the system.The audio visual signals from the participants may be a multi-duplexcommunication.

FIG. 14 depicts a method or non-transitory computer readable storagemedium configured to store instructions for execution by a processor forcentrally controlling communication 1400 at a venue with a plurality ofparticipants. The method may include receiving 1410 via a plurality ofmobile devices a plurality of acoustic modem data signals and aplurality of audio visual signals from at least two of the plurality ofparticipants by a communications bridge, mixing audio 1412 signals ofthe plurality of audio visual signals with a watermark audio signal andmoderating 1414 a transmission of at least one of the plurality ofacoustic modem data signals and the mixed audio signals to the pluralityof participants at the venue. The moderated transmission is communicatedto the participants and the audience by way of a multimediareinforcement speaker system (see FIGS. 1-122).

The method of FIG. 14 is similar to that of FIG. 13 with the inclusionof communicating data by acoustic modem data signals. The method mayfurther include receiving text messages via the plurality of acousticmodem data signals and converting the received text message to speechfor moderated transmission.

FIG. 15 illustrates a method or non-transitory computer readable storagemedium configured to store instructions for execution by a processor forcentrally controlling communication 1500 at a venue with a plurality ofparticipants. The method may include receiving 1510 via a plurality ofmobile devices a respective plurality of audio signals and a respectiveplurality of location signals from at least two of the plurality ofparticipants by a communications bridge, mixing 1512 audio signals ofthe plurality of audio signals with a watermark audio signal, capturing1514 at least one photograph of at least one participant of theplurality of participants with the respective location signal andmoderating 1516 a transmission of the mixed audio signals and thecaptured at least one photograph to the plurality of participants at thevenue. The moderated transmission is communicated to the participantsand the audience by way of a multimedia reinforcement speaker system(FIGS. 1-122).

The method of FIG. 15 is similar to the method of FIG. 9 with theaddition of photographs added to the previous audio questions.

FIG. 16 depicts a method or non-transitory computer readable storagemedium configured to store instructions for execution by a processor forcentrally controlling communication 1600 at a venue with a plurality ofparticipants. The method may include receiving 1610 via a plurality ofmobile devices a plurality of respective data signals, a pluralityrespective of audio signals and a respective plurality of locationsignals from at least two of the plurality of participants by acommunications bridge, mixing 1612 audio signals of the plurality ofaudio signals with a watermark audio signal and capturing 1614 at leastone photograph of at least one participant of the plurality ofparticipants with the respective location signal and moderating 1616 atransmission of at least one of the plurality of acoustic modem datasignals, the mixed audio signals and the captured at least onephotograph to the plurality of participants at the venue. The moderatedtransmission is communicated to the participants and the audience by wayof a multimedia reinforcement speaker system (See FIGS. 1-122).

The method of FIG. 16 is similar to the method of FIG. 10 with theaddition of photographs added to the previous audio questions.

FIG. 17 illustrates a method or non-transitory computer readable storagemedium configured to store instructions for execution by a processor forcentrally controlling communication 1700 at a venue with a plurality ofparticipants. The example method may include receiving 1710 via aplurality of mobile devices a respective plurality of audio visualsignals from at least two of the plurality of participants by acommunications bridge, mixing 1712 audio visual signals of the pluralityof audio visual signals with a watermark audio signal, capturing 1714 atleast one photograph of at least one participant of the plurality ofparticipants with the respective mobile device of the plurality ofmobile devices and moderating 1716 a transmission of the mixed audiovisual signals and the captured at least one photograph to the pluralityof participants at the venue. The moderated transmission is communicatedto the participants and the audience by way of a multimediareinforcement speaker system (see FIGS. 1-122).

The method of FIG. 17 is similar to the method of FIG. 13 with theaddition of photographs added to the previous audio questions.

FIG. 18 illustrates a method or non-transitory computer readable storagemedium configured to store instructions for execution by a processor forcentrally controlling communication 1800 at a venue with a plurality ofparticipants. The method may include receiving 1810, via a plurality ofmobile devices, a plurality of data signals and a plurality of audiovisual signals from at least two of the plurality of participants by acommunications bridge, mixing 1812 audio visual signals of the pluralityaudio visual signals with a watermark audio signal and moderating 1814 atransmission of at least one of the plurality of data signals and themixed audio visual signals to the plurality of participants at thevenue. The moderated transmission is communicated to the participantsand the audience by way of a multimedia reinforcement speaker system(FIGS. 1-122).

The method of FIG. 18 is similar to the method of FIG. 14 with theaddition of photographs added to the previous audio questions.

FIG. 19 depicts a method or non-transitory computer readable storagemedium configured to store instructions for execution by a processor forcentrally controlling communication 1900 at a venue with a plurality ofparticipants. The method may include receiving 1910 via a plurality ofmobile devices a respective plurality of audio signals from at least twoof the plurality of participants by a communications bridge, mixing 1912audio signals of the plurality of audio signals with a watermark audiosignal and moderating 1914 a transmission of the mixed audio signals viavirtual reality to the plurality of participants at the venue. Themoderated transmission is communicated to the participants and theaudience by way of a multimedia reinforcement speaker system (see FIGS.1-122).

The method of FIG. 19 is similar to the method of FIG. 9 with theaddition of virtual reality for the participants.

FIG. 20 depicts a method or non-transitory computer readable storagemedium configured to store instructions for execution by a processor forcentrally controlling communication 2000 at a venue with a plurality ofparticipants. The method may include receiving 2010 via a plurality ofmobile devices a plurality of data signals and a plurality of audiosignals from at least two of the plurality of participants by acommunications bridge, mixing 2012 audio signals of the plurality ofaudio signals with a watermark audio signal and moderating 2014 atransmission of at least one of the plurality of data signals and themixed audio signals via virtual reality to the plurality of participantsat the venue. The moderated transmission is communicated to theparticipants and the audience by way of a multimedia reinforcementspeaker system (See FIGS. 1-122).

The method of FIG. 20 is similar to the method of FIG. 10 with theaddition of virtual reality for the participants.

FIG. 21 depicts a method or non-transitory computer readable storagemedium configured to store instructions for execution by a processor forcentrally controlling communication 2100 at a venue with a plurality ofparticipants. The method may include receiving 2110 via a plurality ofparticipant mobile devices a respective plurality of audio signals fromat least two of the plurality of participants by a communicationsbridge, mixing 2112 audio signals by the respective participant mobiledevice of the plurality of audio signals with a watermark audio signal,and the watermark audio signal includes an embedded data, displaying2114 the embedded data to a presenter and moderating 2116 a transmissionof the audio signals to the plurality of participants at the venue. Themoderated transmission is communicated to the participants and theaudience by way of a multimedia reinforcement speaker system (See FIGS.1-122).

FIG. 22 depicts a method or non-transitory computer readable storagemedium configured to store instructions for execution by a processor forcentrally controlling communication 2200 at a venue with a plurality ofparticipants. The method may include receiving 2210 via a plurality ofparticipant mobile devices a respective plurality of audio signals fromat least two of the plurality of participants by a communicationsbridge, mixing 2212 audio signals by the communication bridge of theplurality of audio signals with a watermark audio signal, and thewatermark audio signal includes an embedded data, displaying 2214 theembedded data to the plurality of participants at the venue via theplurality of participant mobile devices and moderating 2216 atransmission of the audio signals to the plurality of participants atthe venue. The moderated transmission is communicated to theparticipants and the audience by way of a multimedia reinforcementspeaker system (See FIGS. 1-122).

FIG. 23 depicts a second overall system diagram 2300, which includes acommunications bridge 110 that includes at least a processor 112 coupledto a memory 114 that includes a non-transitory computer readable storagemedium. The processor 112 is coupled to an audio watermark integrator2310 and an audio watermark differentiator 2312, a network interface116. The audio watermark integrator 2310 embeds watermarks in the audioheard by the participants' mobile devices 124. The embedded watermarkscontain data that is recognized by the codec in the participant mobiledevice, such as closed captioning. The audio watermark differentiator2312 receives audio watermarks embedded in the communications from theparticipants' mobile devices containing data that is recognized by theaudio watermark differentiator for communication to the processor. Theaudio watermark integrator 2310 and audio watermark differentiator 2312are coupled to the WiFi interface 118 and the audio interface 120. Thenetwork interface 116 is coupled to a registration server 128. In oneembodiment, the coupling is by direct line connection via a corporateLAN, in other embodiments the connection may be by WLAN or cellularcommunication. The audio interface 120 is coupled to a multimediareinforcement system 122. A participant mobile device 124 is wirelesslycoupled to the WiFi interface, or may be coupled by a cellularconnection. The presenter mobile device 126 is coupled to the WiFiinterface 118 or may be coupled by direct line connection.

FIG. 24 depicts another system diagram 2400, which includes acommunications bridge 110 is comprised of at least a processor 112coupled to a memory 114 that includes a non-transitory computer readablestorage medium. The processor 112 coupled to an audio watermarkintegrator 2310, an audio watermark differentiator 2312 and a networkinterface 116. The audio watermark integrator 2310 embeds watermarks inthe audio heard by the participant's mobile devices 124. The embeddedwatermarks contain data that is recognized by the codec in theparticipant mobile device, such as closed captioning. The audiowatermark differentiator 2312 receives audio watermarks embedded in thecommunications from the participants' mobile devices containing datathat is recognized by the audio watermark differentiator forcommunication to the processor. The audio watermark integrator 2310 iscoupled to the audio interface 120. The audio watermark differentiator2312 is coupled to the WiFi interface 118. The network interface 116 iscoupled to a registration server 128. In one embodiment, the coupling isby direct line connection via a corporate LAN, in other embodiments theconnection may be by WLAN or cellular communication. The audio interface120 is coupled to a multimedia reinforcement system 122. A participantmobile device 124 is wirelessly coupled to the WiFi interface, or may becoupled by way of cellular connection. The presenter mobile device 126is coupled to the WiFi interface 118 or may be coupled by direct lineconnection.

FIG. 25 illustrates a system for receiving and processing audiencemember audio and related data for communication at a venue, inaccordance with some embodiments. Referring to FIG. 25, theconfiguration 2500 demonstrates a group of persons attending a livepresentation by a presenter 2502 using a microphone 2504 and loudspeaker2536 system. In this configuration, many persons are present at a livespeaker assembly. The venue may have outfitted with various microphones2512-2522 and loudspeakers 2536 to record audience voice audio for whenpersons are speaking to ask questions. In another example, the mobiledevices of the users, such as 2544/2543, etc., may be used to recorduser voice and submit the data wirelessly via the application and submitthe data to the server 2532, the user voice data and other data may besubmitted 2530, such as location data, user profile data, timeinformation, etc. If the data is identified as a question, it may bedisplayed in the display 2534 in the order it was received.

In one example, a user that is at a location that is near a microphone2516, the voice may be captured via the microphone 2516 when the userasks a question at a particular time in a personal tone that does notinclude the attention of those around the user or the speaker, such as aquieter tone that is only identifiable by the local microphone 2516and/or the user's personal computing device 2544.

In general, the user's may watch the content of the presentation on thedisplay 2534 or their personal computing devices which may be activelyfollowing the video and/or audio of the presentation. The users may belocated in the conference venue, outside the conference venue, in aremote location etc. The user's may ask questions and make comments atany time by speaking into their mobile devices 2544/2546/2542, etc. Thecomments/questions can be received along with any other sound captured,combined with other data, such as watermark data identifying a locationof the user device, a name/profile of the user, date/time, etc. Theinformation may be bundled a “audio” data or a combination of audio dataand non-audio data, then sent to the server 2532 which may queue thedata in a live queue on the display 2534, to demonstrate the questionssubmitted in the order they are received. When the presenter 2502decides to address questions, the list of pending questions can beaddressed in turn. The user's voice can be played to the venue via theloudspeakers 2536 as it is recorded. Additional processing may beperformed to remove background noise and other voices so the audio isclear. The audio can be played through the loudspeakers when thequestions are initiated by the user controlling the moderation of theengagement.

FIG. 26 illustrates a system signaling diagram for receiving andprocessing audience member audio and related data for communication at avenue, in accordance with some embodiments. Referring to FIG. 26, theexample process 2600 includes a user ‘A’ 2602 operating a user device2604 to watch, connect and provide input to a live presentation. Theuser device may be used with the presentation application to capturelive audio spoken by the user and forward the data set 2652 in a sendoperation along with other “watermark” data, such as user information,time, date, location of user device, purpose, title of user, title ofmessage, etc., to an application server 2610 so the data can be receivedas a combined data set 2654. The data set may have unwanted audio data,such as background noise identified by a particular frequency and/oramplitude and may need to be subtracted 2656 to clarify the primarypurpose of the audio which is likely to be the user's voice only. Inthis case, the audio data may be filtered to remove a noise floor, othervoices, undesired noises, etc. The modified signal can then be forwardedto a presentation device, such as a display 2608 and/or a loudspeaker2612. As the signal has unwanted audio data removed to create themodified presentation signal, then the modified presentation signal 2658is forwarded and queued or played on a presentation device as audio,images, video, etc. 2662. The ideal scenario may be a question thatincludes video and audio of the user asking the question prior to thequestion and video display of the user speaking being presented.However, other data may be shared, such as a link, a photograph, adocument, etc.

FIG. 27 illustrates another system signaling diagram for receiving andprocessing audience member audio and related data for communication at avenue, in accordance with some embodiments. Referring to FIG. 27, theconfiguration 2700 includes another scenario where the audio data of theuser device 2604 is captured and forwarded 2752 to the server 2610. Themobile device characteristics 2754 may be identified by determining themobile device model based on hardware identification informationincluded in the audio data messages received.

Once a model of the device is known, the audio characteristics of thedevice may be anticipated by applying gain, filters, and other audiomodification techniques to the audio received from the known devicemodel. Also, the device location 2756 may be used to provide accurateaudio tuning data based on known audio characteristics of the venue.Alternatively, other features may be provided such as turning onmicrophones near the location of the user device (e.g., 2516 in FIG. 25)when the question is presented to the audience so the user device 2544and user can interact with the speaker 2502 while other microphones inthe venue are turned down/off to drown out noise.

Once the audio signal data is captured and forwarded 2758, the mobiledevice location may be photographed 2762 to identify the user and pairthe photograph with the captured audio data by forwarding the image data2764 to the display 2608 and loudspeaker 2612 to queue the data or playthe data when the time matures to play the data 2766 to the audience.

FIG. 28 illustrates another system signaling diagram 2800 for receivingand processing audience member audio and related data for communicationat a venue, in accordance with some embodiments. Referring to FIG. 28,the configuration provides forwarding audio data and other data(watermark data) 2852 to the application server 2610. The server maycompare the data set to an audio data range 2854 to determine whetherthe audio data is acceptable for post-processing presentation 2856. Ifthe data is within a target comparison level, such as within 10 percentof the expected audio data range of frequency, amplitude, reducedbackground noise, etc., then the data may be considered optimal and maybe forwarded 2858 and queued 2862 for subsequent presentation purposes.When the data is determined to be less than optimal, the user device maybe prompted for additional audio data 2864. The user device may presenta display prompt to the user 2802 to re-attempt the audio data, theadditional audio data 2866 may then be received and screened foradditional screening purposes 2868 and to test for optimal quality. Whenthe data is optimal and matches data quality criteria 2872, then thedata is sent to the data queue 2874 until the moderator can access thedata for presentation purposes.

FIG. 29 illustrates an example method of receiving and processingparticipation data from audience member devices, in accordance with someembodiments. Referring to FIG. 29, the example provides users standingin a crowded room listening to a live presentation. Each user is engagedwith the presentation portal application via their smartphones. One usermay view or hear a presentation notation, for example, at 3:42pm, andbecome inspired and speak a question into their smartphone via theinterface application, another person may do something similar at3:44pm, such as ask another question, this process continues for theentire 60 minute presentation. The questions are recorded, digitized,watermarks (non-audio data included in the audio data sent) are added bythe system application based on known information to assist withorganizing and presenting the data. Additionally, multiple questions maybe submitted at the same time and recorded, queued and processed for thepresenter to address in due course. For example, multiple users withmultiple respective mobile computing devices may speak into theirdevices utilizing the conference system application that records theirvoice and/or text input.

The computing system may then receive the data, queue the data as partof a question queue with text and/or audio/video captured during theevent. The questions or comments received may be timestamped to denotethe order they appear in the queue since each question received may haveat least some time difference between the other received questions.

In one example, the method 2900 may include receiving, at a server, adata set from one or more mobile devices located in a presentation space2912, combining the received data set with additional data to create acombined data set 2914, creating a presentation signal based on thecombined data set 2916, subtracting a portion of one or more of the dataset and the additional data set from the combined data set to create amodified presentation signal 2918, forwarding the modified presentationsignal to one or more of a display and a loudspeaker located in thepresentation space 2922, and playing the modified presentation signalvia one or more of the loudspeaker and the display device 2924.

The received data set includes one or more of textual data, audio data,image data and video data. The subtracted portion of the one or more ofthe data set and the additional data includes one or more of audiooutput of the loudspeaker recorded during a recording of the receiveddata set and audio output associated with audience members of thepresentation near the mobile device which recorded the data set. Themethod may include adding a watermark signal to the data set prior toforwarding the data set from the one or more mobile devices. Thewatermark signal can include identification information associated withthe one or more mobile devices, location information of the one or moremobile devices and data subtraction information regarding information tosubtract from the presentation signal to remove unwanted audio signals.The method may include displaying the data set on a display associatedwith a presenter device in communication with the presentation serverand delaying the playing of the modified presentation signal via theloudspeaker for a predefined period of time.

FIG. 30 illustrates another example method of receiving and processingparticipation data from audience member devices, in accordance with someembodiments. Referring to FIG. 30, the method 3000 may includereceiving, at a presentation server, an audio data signal from a mobiledevice located in a presentation space 3012, identifying a mobile deviceidentification characteristic of the mobile device based on the receivedaudio data signal 3014, determining a mobile device location via alocation determination procedure 3016, and playing the audio signal viaa loudspeaker 3018.

The method may also include mixing the audio signal with a watermarkaudio signal, responsive to identifying the mobile device location,capturing a photograph of the location of the mobile device to identifya participant associated with the mobile device, forwarding thephotograph to participating mobile devices when playing the audio signalvia the loudspeaker. The received audio data signal includes one or moreof textual data, audio data, image data and video data. The watermarkaudio signal includes identification information associated with the oneor more mobile devices, location information of the one or more mobiledevices and data subtraction information regarding information tosubtract from the audio signal. The method may also include displayingthe audio data on a display associated with a presenter device incommunication with the presentation server. The method may also includedetermining a mobile device location via a location determinationprocedure which includes identifying a microphone nearest a locationwhere the mobile device is located based on the audio data signalreceived from the mobile device at the nearest microphone, anddetermining the location of the mobile device based on a location of thenearest microphone.

FIG. 31 illustrates another example method of receiving and processingparticipation data from audience member devices, in accordance with someembodiments. Referring to FIG. 31, the method 3100 may includeinitiating an audio recording to capture audio data 3112, comparing theaudio data received from a microphone of a mobile device to an audiodata range 3114, determining whether the audio data is above an optimallevel based on a result of the comparison 3116, and queuing the audiodata in an audio data queue when the audio data is above the optimallevel 3118.

The audio data range is one or more of a frequency range and anamplitude range. The audio data is not above the optimal level filteringthe audio data to remove excessive background audio data. The excessivebackground audio data is identified as an audio signal above a thresholdamplitude level at a particular frequency range. When the audio data isnot acceptable, the method may include forwarding a prompt to the mobiledevice to modify an audio input strategy, receiving additional audiodata subsequent to the audio data being received, and determining theadditional audio data is above the optimal level. The method may includeidentifying a device model of the mobile device, and automaticallyadjusting one or more of a gain, a frequency and an amplitude of theaudio signal received based on the device model identified.Additionally, audience members may also speak in their native language,which may be converted to the language of the presenter prior toappearing in the question queue. Then, once answered, assuming thequestion is selected during the presenter response, the response may beautomatically translated back to the first language and shared with theoriginal audience member by transferring the data back to the user'sdevice.

The above embodiments may be implemented in hardware, in a computerprogram executed by a processor, in firmware, or in a combination of theabove. A computer program may be embodied on a computer readable medium,such as a storage medium. For example, a computer program may reside inrandom access memory (“RAM”), flash memory, read-only memory (“ROM”),erasable programmable read-only memory (“EPROM”), electrically erasableprogrammable read-only memory (“EEPROM”), registers, hard disk, aremovable disk, a compact disk read-only memory (“CD-ROM”), or any otherform of storage medium known in the art.

An exemplary storage medium may be coupled to the processor such thatthe processor may read information from, and write information to, thestorage medium. In the alternative, the storage medium may be integralto the processor. The processor and the storage medium may reside in anapplication specific integrated circuit (“ASIC”). In the alternative,the processor and the storage medium may reside as discrete components.For example, FIG. 32 illustrates an example computer system architecture3200, which may represent or be integrated in any of the above-describedcomponents, etc.

FIG. 32 is not intended to suggest any limitation as to the scope of useor functionality of embodiments of the application described herein.Regardless, the computing node is capable of being implemented and/orperforming any of the functionality set forth hereinabove.

In computing node 3200 there is a computer system/server 3202, which isoperational with numerous other general purpose or special purposecomputing system environments or configurations. Examples of well-knowncomputing systems, environments, and/or configurations that may besuitable for use with computer system/server 3202 include, but are notlimited to, personal computer systems, server computer systems, thinclients, thick clients, hand-held or laptop devices, multiprocessorsystems, microprocessor-based systems, set top boxes, programmableconsumer electronics, network PCs, minicomputer systems, mainframecomputer systems, and distributed cloud computing environments thatinclude any of the above systems or devices, and the like.

Computer system/server 3202 may be described in the general context ofcomputer system-executable instructions, such as program modules, beingexecuted by a computer system. Generally, program modules may includeroutines, programs, objects, components, logic, data structures, and soon that perform particular tasks or implement particular abstract datatypes. Computer system/server 3202 may be practiced in distributed cloudcomputing environments where tasks are performed by remote processingdevices that are linked through a communications network. In adistributed cloud computing environment, program modules may be locatedin both local and remote computer system storage media including memorystorage devices.

As shown in FIG. 32, computer system/server 3202 in cloud computing node3200 is shown in the form of a general-purpose computing device. Thecomponents of computer system/server 3202 may include, but are notlimited to, one or more processors or processing units 3204, a systemmemory 3206, and a bus that couples various system components includingsystem memory 3206 to processor 3204.

The bus represents one or more of any of several types of busstructures, including a memory bus or memory controller, a peripheralbus, an accelerated graphics port, and a processor or local bus usingany of a variety of bus architectures. By way of example, and notlimitation, such architectures include Industry Standard Architecture(ISA) bus, Micro Channel Architecture (MCA) bus, Enhanced ISA (EISA)bus, Video Electronics Standards Association (VESA) local bus, andPeripheral Component Interconnects (PCI) bus.

Computer system/server 3202 typically includes a variety of computersystem readable media. Such media may be any available media that isaccessible by computer system/server 3202, and it includes both volatileand non-volatile media, removable and non-removable media. System memory3206, in one embodiment, implements the flow diagrams of the otherfigures. The system memory 3206 can include computer system readablemedia in the form of volatile memory, such as random-access memory (RAM)3210 and/or cache memory 3212. Computer system/server 3202 may furtherinclude other removable/non-removable, volatile/non-volatile computersystem storage media. By way of example only, memory 3206 can beprovided for reading from and writing to a non-removable, non-volatilemagnetic media (not shown and typically called a “hard drive”). Althoughnot shown, a magnetic disk drive for reading from and writing to aremovable, non-volatile magnetic disk (e.g., a “floppy disk”), and anoptical disk drive for reading from or writing to a removable,non-volatile optical disk such as a CD-ROM, DVD-ROM or other opticalmedia can be provided. In such instances, each can be connected to thebus by one or more data media interfaces. As will be further depictedand described below, memory 3206 may include at least one programproduct having a set (e.g., at least one) of program modules that areconfigured to carry out the functions of various embodiments of theapplication.

Program/utility, having a set (at least one) of program modules, may bestored in memory 3206 by way of example, and not limitation, as well asan operating system, one or more application programs, other programmodules, and program data. Each of the operating system, one or moreapplication programs, other program modules, and program data or somecombination thereof, may include an implementation of a networkingenvironment. Program modules generally carry out the functions and/ormethodologies of various embodiments of the application as describedherein.

As will be appreciated by one skilled in the art, aspects of the presentapplication may be embodied as a system, method, or computer programproduct. Accordingly, aspects of the present application may take theform of an entirely hardware embodiment, an entirely software embodiment(including firmware, resident software, micro-code, etc.) or anembodiment combining software and hardware aspects that may allgenerally be referred to herein as a “circuit,” “module” or “system.”Furthermore, aspects of the present application may take the form of acomputer program product embodied in one or more computer readablemedium(s) having computer readable program code embodied thereon.

Computer system/server 3202 may also communicate with one or moreexternal devices 3220 via a I/O adapter 3224, such as a keyboard, apointing device, a display 3222, etc.; one or more devices that enable auser to interact with computer system/server 3202; and/or any devices(e.g., network card, modem, etc.) that enable computer system/server3202 to communicate with one or more other computing devices. Suchcommunication can occur via I/O interfaces 3224 of the adapter 3226.Still yet, computer system/server 3202 can communicate with one or morenetworks such as a local area network (LAN), a general wide area network(WAN), and/or a public network (e.g., the Internet) via network adapter.As depicted, adapter 3226 communicates with the other components ofcomputer system/server 3202 via a bus. It should be understood thatalthough not shown, other hardware and/or software components could beused in conjunction with computer system/server 3202. Examples, include,but are not limited to: microcode, device drivers, redundant processingunits, external disk drive arrays, RAID systems, tape drives, and dataarchival storage systems, etc.

Although an exemplary embodiment of at least one of a system, method,and non-transitory computer readable medium has been illustrated in theaccompanied drawings and described in the foregoing detaileddescription, it will be understood that the application is not limitedto the embodiments disclosed, but is capable of numerous rearrangements,modifications, and substitutions as set forth and defined by thefollowing claims. For example, the capabilities of the system of thevarious figures can be performed by one or more of the modules orcomponents described herein or in a distributed architecture and mayinclude a transmitter, receiver or pair of both. For example, all orpart of the functionality performed by the individual modules, may beperformed by one or more of these modules. Further, the functionalitydescribed herein may be performed at various times and in relation tovarious events, internal or external to the modules or components. Also,the information sent between various modules can be sent between themodules via at least one of: a data network, the Internet, a voicenetwork, an Internet Protocol network, a wireless device, a wired deviceand/or via plurality of protocols. Also, the messages sent or receivedby any of the modules may be sent or received directly and/or via one ormore of the other modules.

One skilled in the art will appreciate that a “system” could be embodiedas a personal computer, a server, a console, a personal digitalassistant (PDA), a cell phone, a tablet computing device, a smartphoneor any other suitable computing device, or combination of devices.Presenting the above-described functions as being performed by a“system” is not intended to limit the scope of the present applicationin any way but is intended to provide one example of many embodiments.Indeed, methods, systems and apparatuses disclosed herein may beimplemented in localized and distributed forms consistent with computingtechnology.

It should be noted that some of the system features described in thisspecification have been presented as modules, in order to moreparticularly emphasize their implementation independence. For example, amodule may be implemented as a hardware circuit comprising custom verylarge-scale integration (VLSI) circuits or gate arrays, off-the-shelfsemiconductors such as logic chips, transistors, or other discretecomponents. A module may also be implemented in programmable hardwaredevices such as field programmable gate arrays, programmable arraylogic, programmable logic devices, graphics processing units, or thelike.

A module may also be at least partially implemented in software forexecution by various types of processors. An identified unit ofexecutable code may, for instance, comprise one or more physical orlogical blocks of computer instructions that may, for instance, beorganized as an object, procedure, or function. Nevertheless, theexecutables of an identified module need not be physically locatedtogether but may comprise disparate instructions stored in differentlocations which, when joined logically together, comprise the module andachieve the stated purpose for the module. Further, modules may bestored on a computer-readable medium, which may be, for instance, a harddisk drive, flash device, random access memory (RAM), tape, or any othersuch medium used to store data.

Indeed, a module of executable code could be a single instruction, ormany instructions, and may even be distributed over several differentcode segments, among different programs, and across several memorydevices. Similarly, operational data may be identified and illustratedherein within modules and may be embodied in any suitable form andorganized within any suitable type of data structure. The operationaldata may be collected as a single data set or may be distributed overdifferent locations including over different storage devices, and mayexist, at least partially, merely as electronic signals on a system ornetwork.

It will be readily understood that the components of the application, asgenerally described and illustrated in the figures herein, may bearranged and designed in a wide variety of different configurations.Thus, the detailed description of the embodiments is not intended tolimit the scope of the application as claimed but is merelyrepresentative of selected embodiments of the application.

One having ordinary skill in the art will readily understand that theabove may be practiced with steps in a different order, and/or withhardware elements in configurations that are different than those whichare disclosed. Therefore, although the application has been describedbased upon these preferred embodiments, it would be apparent to those ofskill in the art that certain modifications, variations, and alternativeconstructions would be apparent.

While preferred embodiments of the present application have beendescribed, it is to be understood that the embodiments described areillustrative only and the scope of the application is to be definedsolely by the appended claims when considered with a full range ofequivalents and modifications (e.g., protocols, hardware devices,software platforms etc.) thereto.

While example embodiments have been particularly shown and described, itwill be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes inform and details may be made therein without departing from the scope ofthe embodiments encompassed by the appended claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method comprising: receiving, at a presentationserver, an audio data signal from a mobile device located in apresentation space; identifying a microphone nearest a location wherethe mobile device is located based on the audio data signal beingreceived from the mobile device at the nearest microphone; determining alocation of the mobile device based on the location of the nearestmicrophone; and playing the audio signal via a loudspeaker.
 2. Themethod of claim 1, comprising: mixing the audio signal with a watermarkaudio signal.
 3. The method of claim 1, comprising: responsive toidentifying the mobile device location, capturing a photograph of thelocation of the mobile device to identify a participant associated withthe mobile device; and forwarding the photograph to participating mobiledevices when playing the audio signal via the loudspeaker.
 4. The methodof claim 1, wherein the received audio data signal comprises one or moreof textual data, audio data, image data and video data.
 5. The method ofclaim 2, wherein the watermark audio signal comprises identificationinformation associated with the one or more mobile devices, locationinformation of the one or more mobile devices and data subtractioninformation regarding information to subtract from the audio signal. 6.The method of claim 1, comprising: displaying the audio data on adisplay associated with a presenter device in communication with thepresentation server.
 7. The method of claim 1, comprising: identifying amobile device identification characteristic of the mobile device basedon the received audio data signal.
 8. An apparatus comprising: areceiver configured to receive, at a presentation server, an audio datasignal from a mobile device located in a presentation space; and aprocessor configured to identify a microphone nearest a location wherethe mobile device is located based on the audio data signal beingreceived from the mobile device at the nearest microphone; determine alocation of the mobile device based on the location of the nearestmicrophone; and play the audio signal via a loudspeaker.
 9. Theapparatus of claim 8, wherein the processor is further configured to:mix the audio signal with a watermark audio signal.
 10. The apparatus ofclaim 8, wherein responsive to the mobile device location beingidentified, the processor is configured to capture a photograph of thelocation of the mobile device to identify a participant associated withthe mobile device, and forward the photograph to participating mobiledevices when playing the audio signal via the loudspeaker.
 11. Theapparatus of claim 8, wherein the received audio data signal comprisesone or more of textual data, audio data, image data and video data. 12.The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the watermark audio signal comprisesidentification information associated with the one or more mobiledevices, location information of the one or more mobile devices and datasubtraction information regarding information to subtract from the audiosignal.
 13. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the processor is furtherconfigured to display the audio data on a display associated with apresenter device in communication with the presentation server.
 14. Theapparatus of claim 8, wherein the processor is further configured toidentify a mobile device identification characteristic of the mobiledevice based on the received audio data signal.
 15. A non-transitorycomputer readable storage medium configured to store instructions thatwhen executed cause a processor to perform: receiving, at a presentationserver, an audio data signal from a mobile device located in apresentation space; identifying a microphone nearest a location wherethe mobile device is located based on the audio data signal beingreceived from the mobile device at the nearest microphone; determining alocation of the mobile device based on the location of the nearestmicrophone; and playing the audio signal via a loudspeaker.
 16. Thenon-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein theprocessor is further configured to perform: mixing the audio signal witha watermark audio signal.
 17. The non-transitory computer readablestorage medium of claim 15, wherein the processor is further configuredto perform: responsive to identifying the mobile device location,capturing a photograph of the location of the mobile device to identifya participant associated with the mobile device; and forwarding thephotograph to participating mobile devices when playing the audio signalvia the loudspeaker.
 18. The non-transitory computer readable storagemedium of claim 15, wherein the received audio data signal comprises oneor more of textual data, audio data, image data and video data.
 19. Thenon-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 16, wherein thewatermark audio signal comprises identification information associatedwith the one or more mobile devices, location information of the one ormore mobile devices and data subtraction information regardinginformation to subtract from the audio signal.
 20. The non-transitorycomputer readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein the processor isfurther configured to perform displaying the audio data on a displayassociated with a presenter device in communication with thepresentation server.